Week 3: Yemek

On Sunday evening (8/11) I met up with some friends that were doing the Boğaziçi University summer language program (the group of Americans studying Turkish tends to see a lot of overlap) and we decided to find a spot to sit on campus. Boğaziçi Universtiy is 150 years old and the campus sits on top of a very steep hill. Seriously, walking up this hill kills and inevitably every time I do it I run into some friend, and we do the two-cheek-kiss thing while I am river status sweating and she miraculously looks perfect.  However, as bad as it is, because of that hill you can see from the campus across the Bosphorus to the Asian side and watch little boats travel to and from or freighters navigate the narrow waterway bringing goods to countries on the Black Sea. Many people include the half hour ferry boat ride in their daily commute from Asia to Europe or the other way around. The spot we sat in is called the "petek", or honeycomb in English, because the benches are in the shape of a hexagon facing the Bosphorus. It's summer so most students are still away, but there are always people hanging out, drinking Efes and playing music. It's a really lovely place to sit and chat.   

One of the new people I met that night and I stumbled across the subject of Uighurs, an ethnic group that lives in China but speaks a Turkic language and was connected to this region through the Silk Road (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghur_people) but whose origins are somewhat unknown. What is known, though, is that their food is incredible. My friend Brendan had already been to a Uyghur restaurant about four times in the past two months and took me on Monday. I can’t stress enough how good this food is, I actually think it may be better than Turkish food, and that is saying something.  They are heavy meals because due to the rigors of living and working on the steps of Eastern China your meals have to sustain you for extended periods of time. The most famous things include what is listed as “spaghetti” in Turkish, English and Arabic but is actually hand pulled dough noodles with stir-fried vegetables and meat. They also make dumplings the size of a child’s fist. There is no way to eat those things and be composted because all the juice that is cooked inside comes out upon the first bite. But it’s worth it, oh so worth it. If you’re in Istanbul you should go there. Now. If not, come visit me in Istanbul!